Amazeum receives $10.35 million from Scott family for expansion

The modern glass façade of a museum.

Lee Scott, a former CEO of Walmart, has made a $10.35 million gift to the Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville, Arkansas, to improve and expand the museum’s facilities, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports.

The gift from the Scott family—including Lee Scott’s wife, Linda, and their sons Eric and Wyatt and their spouses—will enable the interactive children’s museum to reimagine the use of its outdoor space and add 5,000 square feet of indoor activity space dedicated to early learners. In 2015, following a major contribution supporting building construction, the museum was named for the Scott family.

The next phase of growth will complement the nature trails developed at the nearby Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Orchards Park, Eric Scott told the Gazette in a statement. According to the museum, nearly 1.8 million people have visited the Amazeum since it opened in 2015 and that figure is expected to top two million next year.

“Today was really thinking about what happens next,” said museum executive director Sam Dean. “We will be looking and reimagining how all the spaces can be used in different ways [and how] the museum takes its everyday magic and expands to new audiences, expands the physical building to new dimensions.”

(Photo credit: Wikipedia/Amazeum)

"Bentonville’s Amazeum announces $10.35 million gift, expansion plan." Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette 05/12/2023.